emma’s and superman

I went to see the movie Waiting for Superman yesterday at Kendall. It was okay. Obviously I wasn’t expecting a documentary about the failing school systems in America to be very uplifting but wow…We’re screwed. I know, I know, take documentaries with a grain of salt. It’s definitely a one-sided portrayal of only the negatives in public education but its hard to celebrate the good ones with so many failing aspects of the system. I thought maybe the movie would put more emphasis on the changes that work and what needs to be done to get on the right track. It wasn’t. There was a lot of input from Geoffrey Canada who I’ve listened to before. There is a great NPR episode with him talking about his work with kids in Harlem. I think this is the episode. Anyway. Good movie, coulda been better, but people should still see it if they’re clueless to this major problem as I think many people are…Oh, and I’m not sure if this was specific to the Kendall theater but with the purchase of each ticket, they were giving 15$ give certificates to Donorschoose.org, A website where teachers ask for donations for supplies for their classrooms. I picked the Harvard Kent School in Charlestown. The special ed teacher is raising money for indoor play equipment to help entertain kids in the winter months. http://www.donorschoose.org/donors/proposal.html?id=425012. The gift certificate was definitely my favorite part of the movie.

After the movie we went to Emma’s Pizza – check out the padddles section on the site. Very cute. The place was warm and cozy and delicious and playing Bon Iver. Got a pie with half spinach/potato/caramelized onions/rosemary sauce/goat cheese and half bacon/scallion/roasted tomato/mozzarella. Might sound a little overwhelming but it was just right. I’d definitely recommend it.